It is sometimes difficult to interest young children in reading books. Children often loose interest in reading conventional books. It is well recognized that the reading and learning processes are enhanced when the child's interest is maximized in some manner.
The prior art has addressed this problem by incorporating entertainment features into children's books to enhance the children's interest in the book. Such books have been designed so that the books are visually attractive and have eye catching features. Such entertainment features have comprised, for example, pop up figures, puppets or other items which are attached to or coordinated with a book.
A child's desire to read may be limited by the attention span of the child. A young child may pick up a conventional book and initially be interested in the book because the child can touch and feel the cover and exterior surfaces of the book. However, once the child becomes familiar with the outline of the book the child may become disinterested in the book. Since children have a natural attraction for toys and small physical objects, often children are more attentive and will want to read a book longer if a toy or small physical object is associated with the book.
The learning process may be further enhanced if a child is able to see, touch and/or feel a three-dimensional object being discussed on the pages of a book. Often times, simply having the child read the words is inadequate for the child's complete understanding of the material printed on the book pages. A child may be better able to understand the subject matter of the book if the child is able to touch or feel a three-dimensional object which is representative of the subject matter of the book.
The prior art includes several books which incorporate removable toys or figurines which aid in the learning process while a child is reading the book. U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,473 discloses a book containing removable three-dimensional figures fabricated of molded plastic which are frictionally held within the pages of the book, the pages of the book having cut out portions therein. The figures can be removed from the pages of the book and used as a toy to reinforce the learning process. With this book however, once the figures have been removed from the inside of the book, the remaining pages are substantially planar in nature so that if the figures are lost or removed the book may lose its attractiveness to children.
Another patent which discloses a removable toy housed between the front and back covers of a book is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,490,295. The book disclosed in this patent has a story telling section comprising a plurality of planar pages and a toy holding section having a generally hollow compartment housing one or more toys which the reader may remove from the toy holding section of the book by lifting up on a portion of the toy holding section.
In addition to books incorporating removable figures or toys which may speed up the learning process of the reader, other books have been designed which have an abnormal configuration in order to increase the interest of a child reader. These books do not have a conventional planar front and back cover but rather have covers which make the book three-dimensional.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,542 discloses a book shaped as a creature having a back cover and a front cover which comprise layers of soft material. Multiple limbs of the creature the book is attempting to represent may be attached to the front or back covers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,963 discloses a book which may be used as a three-dimensional sculpture. A plurality of planar pages are located between two bifurcated portions. Each bifurcated portion is three-dimensional and in the shape of half of a fish sculpture. When the book is in the closed position the inner pages are not discernable and the exterior of the book appears to be a three-dimensional fish sculpture.
Even with books having non-conventional covers, a child's interest still may not be adequately captured without one or more educational pieces which the child may touch and feel and play with while the child is reading the book. A book having such figures housed therein may be more attractive to a child and aid in the child's learning process when the child reads the book.
Therefore, it is one objective of the present invention to provide an instructional book capable of housing multiple removable parts which the reader may touch and play with while reading the book thus enhancing the reader's understanding of the subject matter of the book.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a book which is non-conventional in shape and has non-planar pages to increase a child's interest in the book.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a book having multiple pages which are three-dimensional and adapted to house and receive one or more removable pieces.